Car roof



July 25, 1999. w. D. THOMPSON 2,161,996

y CAR ROOF Filed March 14, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR WILLIAM D. THOMPSON ATTORNEYS Patented July 25, 1939 PATENT OFFICE CAR ROOF William D'. Thompson, Birmingham, Mich., as-

signor, by mesne assignments, to Standard Railway Equipment Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Delaware Application March 14, 1938, Serial No. 195,873

3 Claims.

The invention relates to car roofs and forms a continuation in ,part of my copending application forpatent, Serial No. '760,006,1iled December 3l, 1934. The subject matter of the parent application is a railway freight car of the house type in which the vertical walls and also the roof are formed of channel plate units, and preferably units fashioned by a rolling process. Such units have various .Y advantages, particularly where i formed by the cold rolling process which densi-- fies ythe metal, increasing its strength and the smoothness .cf surface. They kcan also be manufacturedmore economically and can be readily secured to each other and to cooperating elements by Welding. 'Thepresent application is a division of this subject matter and relates solely to theV rooflconstruction.

It is the primary object of the invention to obtain a roof of the type generally known as twoplane and which dispenses with the use of separate carlines. Inasmuch, however, as the units are preferably formed by rolling they are of uniform cross section throughout their length. Also, to ,obtain the required pitch in the roof said units are'longitudinally curved and are extended substantially from eaves to eaves. This requires provision for proper attachment to the side plates of the car frame and also for weatherproong the structure at the eaves, which I have accomplished in different ways. In one construction the units are attached to the side plates by notched metallic strips which are ,welded to the ends of the channels and are provided with depending portions attached to the side plates. The notches in these strips conform to the channels so as to leave the outer ends thereof open for drainage. In another modification the opposite ends of the units are attached to the side Yplates by pressed sheet metal members fashioned to conform to said units at their upper ends, being attached thereto by welding and then curving downward to merge into a single plane which is secured to the side plate.

Both of these modifications have common features of advantage and the invention, therefore, consists in both the general and specific constructions, as hereinafter set forth.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a plan View of my improved construction of roof;

Figure 2 is an end elevation partly in cross section substantially on line 2-2 of Figure l.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the end of one of the units; Y

Figure 4 is a similar view of the ynotchedstrip (Cl. 10S-5.4)

for sealing the end of the unit and for attaching the same to the side plate;

Figure 5 is a simi-lar View showing the members of Figures 3 and 4 united by welding;

Figure 6 is a cross section similar to Figure 2 showing a modiiied construction;

Figure 7 is a perspective view of the eaves connecting member in Figure 6.

The main unit A from which the roof is formed is partly shown in Figure 3, and comprises a reversely channeled plate having portions B and B lying in one plane and portions C, C', C2 lying in another plane spaced from ,and parallel to the aforesaid plane. These portions are connected by portions D, D., D2, D3, substantially normal to the spaced planes, thereby forming of the unit twocomplete channels on `the lower side, a single central channel and half end channels on the upper side. Thus where units of this character have their adjacent side edges secured to each other by welding as indicated at C3, Figure l, they may be extended to cover a car of any length. It is not, however, essential that there should be this exact number of channels in each unit, for units may be formed with either a larger or smaller number of channels. Also, the units when formed are slightly curved longitudinally so as to give the desired pitch to the roof, as shown in Figure 2.

With the specific construction illustrated in Figures l to 5 inclusive, the units A extend fom side plate to side plate and are united thereto by strips E. These strips are notched to correspond to the upper channels with projecting tongues E between notches and which close the ends of the lower channels. The strips also have a depending portion E2 which overlaps the side plate G (shown as a Z-bar), being secured thereto by riveting, welding or in any other suitable way. At the oppo-site ends of the car the lower plane portion is bent downward to form a an'ge F which is secured by riveting or otherwise to the end plate of the car. Thus the structure is one which forms a uniformly trussed roof without the use of separate carlines and by limiting the width of the channels there will be an increased number of vertical portions which permits of reducing the depth, while still maintaining the desired trussing. Thus, the total thickness of the roof is reduced over that of most standard constructions which will provide for additional internal capacity with the same outside clearance.

With the modified construction shown in Figures 6 and '7 in place of extending the main units the complete distance from side plate to side plate, they are joined to the latter elements through the medium of pressed sheet metal members H. These are fashioned with their upper ends corresponding in cross section to the units A so as to slightly underlap the same and to be secured thereto by Welding. From this point the members H are fashioned with fairly large radius curves in the upper and lower plane portions which gradually approach and nally merge in the single plane portion H overlapping the side plate and secured thereto. Inasrnuch as the clearance diagrams for railway cars have their greatest limitation in height adjacent to the eaves as indicated by the dotted -A line Figure 6, these curved members H will permit of enlarging the internal capacity, while still retaining the requisite outside clearance.

It will be understood that this roof is provided with all the necessary auxiliaries, such for instance as the running board, but as these form no part of the present invention, they will not be described in detail.

One advantage of my improved roof is that it is applicable to cars of different widths without changing of dies. Thus the channel portion can be readily changed in length to correspond to a particular width of car and then united to the same attachment means used for cars of different widths.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. A car roof comprising a series of rolled units each extending transversely of the car, each unit having portions in spaced paralled planes connected by portions substantially normal thereto and forming reverse channels with ccmplementary portions of another channel located at opposite edges, said units being joined to each other by welding their adjacent edges, and eaves connections formed of members having their upper ends fashioned to correspond to the cross sectional contour of the ends of said units and secured thereto, said connections curving outward and downward into a single vertical plane for attachment to the side plates of the car said plane being spaced inward from the outer face of the car side.

2. A car roof comprising a series of units each formed of a reversely channeled plate having portions in spaced planes and connecting p0rtions substantially normal to said planes, said units extending transversely of the car, and eaves connecting members correspondingly channeled at their upper ends for attachment to the ends of said units by welding and curving outward and downward therefrom to merge in a single vertical plane for attachment to the side plates of the car said plane being spaced inward from the outer face of the car side.Y

3. A car roof comprising a series of units each formed of a reversely channeled plate having portions in spaced planes, and connecting portions substantially normally to said planes, said units extending transversely of the car and being of a dimension corresponding to the particular width cf car, an eaves connecting member universal to all widths of cars correspondingly channeled at their upper ends for attachment to the 'J ends of said units by welding and curving outward and downward therefrom to merge in a single vertical plane for attachment to the side plates of the car said plane being spaced inward from the outer face of the car side.

WILLIAM D. THOMPSON. 

